Patient or body weight support systems are known. Examples such as Solo-Step overhead track support systems include not only a track but a trolley to which a rope and harness are attached to provide a fall-prevention system. Such systems, however, have fixed height settings and/or spring-loaded or shock-cords that not only require manual adjustment but lack basic safeguards that help to avoid placing users in difficult positions. For example, without a braking capability, in the event of a fall, a user would have to move the trolley to the track endpoint before there was any resistance to horizontal movement by the trolley.
Programmable body weight support systems such as the SafeGait™ system from Gorbel, Inc., are known for use in rehabilitation facilities and applications. As examples, the disclosures of U.S. Pat. No. 9,510,991 by J. Stockmaster et al., as well as co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/361,975 for a MEDICAL REHAB LIFT SYSTEM AND METHOD WITH HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL FORCE SENSING AND MOTION CONTROL, by J. Stockmaster at. Al (filed Nov. 28, 2016) and Ser. No. 15/187,089 for a BODY HARNESS, by B. Dolce et al. (filed Jun. 20, 2016), all assigned to Gorbel, Inc., and which are each hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. While such systems may be employed in a person's work or home environment, it is often the case that slightly de-featured (e.g., without body weight support) and/or lower-cost systems could be better suited to provide moderate support or simply fall arrest for a person as necessary to facilitate mobility, where the trolley motion is controlled or limited, particularly in situations where a fall or other high-speed horizontal motion is detected.
In view of the requirement for a fall arrest trolley that has dynamic speed control and optional features that facilitate the mobility of users, the following embodiments for such a system and associated methods are disclosed.
Disclosed in embodiments herein is a fall arrest system, comprising: a rail (e.g., track); a trolley operatively associated with, and traveling along, said track; a trolley braking mechanism, associated with said trolley, said braking mechanism including a brake member that is placed into frictional contact with said track in response to a braking signal; a drum for winding/unwinding (lifting/lowering) a rope (or cable, strap, etc.) thereon; an energy storage assembly, operatively connected to the drum, for storing energy as the rope is unwound therefrom and releasing energy as the rope is rewound thereon; a drum rotation sensor, said rotation sensor sensing rotation of the drum and producing a drum rotation signal in response to such rotation; at least one rope angle sensor, said angle sensing when said rope exceeds a predefined angle relative to vertical (e.g., 30-degrees as measured beneath the trolley) and producing an excess angle signal in response thereto; and a controller receiving as inputs of at least the excess angle signal and/or the drum rotation signal and controlling the operation of fall arrest system, comprising: (a) initiating the trolley braking mechanism (e.g., screw motor) in response to at least the output of the rope angle sensor, and (b) stopping further drum rotation (e.g., clutch engagement) in response to at least the drum rotation signal.
The various embodiments described herein are not intended to limit the disclosure to those embodiments described. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the various embodiments and equivalents set forth. For a general understanding, reference is made to the drawings. In the drawings, like references have been used throughout to designate identical or similar elements. It is also noted that the drawings may not have been drawn to scale and that certain regions may have been purposely drawn disproportionately so that the features and aspects could be properly depicted.